Boomtown Chapter Three: Revolution of Imagination

[On The Blend]

I know it's early but my ticket is booked and this is the first time that I've felt genuinely excited for a festival in a long time. This will be my first Boomtown and I can't wait to get lost in the maze of the whole thing.

It feels a little odd to do line-up discussions for a fest where I don't really care for them to spent too much budget on the acts. On the other hand, line-up discussion are good fun so here are some names: 

• Wishes: The Prodigy (obviously), Oh My God! It’s The Church (again), Snayx, The Comet is Coming, Parov Stelar, Pendulum, Little Simz, Michael Kiwanuka, Amyl and the Sniffers, Kae Tempest
• Rogue picks: Goran Bregovic, Manu Chao, Burna Boy

[a6l6e6x]

Also got my ticket for next year already. Really loved engaging with the story more this year and hope to go a bit deeper next year

Prodigy should really be there so off to a good start musically. I also think enter shikari are due a return 

[On The Blend]

On 9/1/2023 at 4:44 PM, a6l6e6x said:

Also got my ticket for next year already. Really loved engaging with the story more this year and hope to go a bit deeper next year

What did you manage to do story-wise this year? Got any tips?

[a6l6e6x]

On 9/5/2023 at 11:40 AM, On The Blend said:

What did you manage to do story-wise this year? Got any tips?

Honestly my best tip is to just ask what’s going on around here to the actors. I didn’t get anywhere near completion maybe like 30% of the way though. We never really focused on it and just sporadically engaged with actors which was a lot of fun

if you want to complete it you need to really put a lot of time in. Boomtown bucks are great to bribe actors with for info but they are also interested in random trinkets. I took a load of cheap jewellery from primark which made a few of them open up 

Watch out for the pirates as they will definitely send you on wild goose chases, most of the time if you are being sent to a different part of the town to complete a task it’s a red herring I found

They release a lot of clues in the build up and there’s a podcast which speaks about it. Also a very active Facebook group but I don’t use that. Woov was useful when you had internet to again find out what other people were up to

[dumski]

Tickets booked.  I'm taking 4 newbies (to Boomtown) not festivals so getting hyped.  My plan is to take them to old town first and tell them a pack of lies and watch the fallout.  Can't wait!

[On The Blend]

Can anyone give me a rough breakdown of the stage genres? From a quick look it seems to me: 

Origin: D&B

Grand Central: not D&B 

Zenith: Techno?

Vault: Rap? 

Engine house: Folk, soul, funk and all that jazz

Wrong Side of the Tracks: no idea 

Hangar 161: Punk, Ska and the like 

Fool’s Leap: Jazz and big band? 
 

I could be way off but I’m just trying to get a general read.

 

[a6l6e6x]

On 9/17/2023 at 5:48 PM, On The Blend said:

Can anyone give me a rough breakdown of the stage genres? From a quick look it seems to me: 

Origin: D&B

Grand Central: not D&B 

Zenith: Techno?

Vault: Rap? 

Engine house: Folk, soul, funk and all that jazz

Wrong Side of the Tracks: no idea 

Hangar 161: Punk, Ska and the like 

Fool’s Leap: Jazz and big band? 
 

I could be way off but I’m just trying to get a general read.

 

You aren’t far off tbh

grand central does have dnb but tends to be a lot more varied with like reggae, but if rock, some pop/hiphop/rap etc

wrong side of the tracks was basically dnb this year with some random stuff thrown in the middle

fools leap had quite a bit of acoustic but later at night you’ll find a full band on there 

hangar 161 had a good amount of metal this year

engine house generally bigger band party type music with the odd dj

 

I found this year was very drum and bass and I think a lot of the big names have been everywhere this summer so they may need to mix it up more next year. I’ve seen subfocus 5 times this year as an example

[foolee]

Is it worth going for someone who is only really into rock/metal/indie?

[mjfromthelane]

On 9/19/2023 at 5:54 PM, foolee said:

Is it worth going for someone who is only really into rock/metal/indie?

If you really have no interest in any electronic music/DJs I reckon you'd probably struggle to get enough out of Boomtown to be honest. You would be confined to a handful of stages on what has become a minority part of the line up now.

The first year I went to Boomtown (2018) the line up had Limp Bizkit, Enter Shikari, Gorillaz, Idles, Hactivist, Feed The Rhino and a load more spread across the different districts. The second time I went, last year, I can barely remember seeing a 'band' of any sort apart from Gentleman's Dub Club. There obviously were options, but not to the level on offer before the line up had a rejig and all moved down to the bowl after Covid.

If you're more into your rock I reckon something like a 2000 trees or similar would be a better fit.

[a6l6e6x]

Agreed, if you don’t like any dance music you probably won’t have a great time. You can get those genres but in limited supply and you’d be missing out on all the massive stages and big acts. You’d also never go to origin which is a impressive stage if you like lasers and pyro 

[On The Blend]

On 9/19/2023 at 5:54 PM, foolee said:

Is it worth going for someone who is only really into rock/metal/indie?

I think this depends on what you see as value for money. Boomtown is already expensive relative to the lineup because you’re paying for all the actors/ stagecraft/ narrative etc and if you don’t like the core genres you get even less. 
 

I’ve happily paid because I love the concept and want to get involved with the stuff you simply don’t get anywhere else and I’ll see a few bands on the side.
 

If you’re going purely for music then definitely save your money and buy a ticket to Rock Werchter or something, if you’re going for the experience as a whole then only you can judge if the lack of acts that you’ll like is a dealbreaker. 

[dumski]

Does anyone know if the campervan tickets go on sale on the 10th?

and cost? Or what it was last time 

Edited October 6, 2023 by dumski

[dumski]

Found it. Oh they do. But not sure on cost? 

[gfa]

Prodigy possibly ruled out due to IOW

[mr flow]

3 hours ago, gfa said:

Prodigy possibly ruled out due to IOW

Have they been announced as an exclusive? I assumed the fact they are touring that the IOW booking made them more likely for BT

[On The Blend]

12 minutes ago, mr flow said:

Have they been announced as an exclusive? I assumed the fact they are touring that the IOW booking made them more likely for BT

I don’t think so. The IOW insta post explicitly lists Green Day as a UK festival exclusive and doesn’t say anything about The Prodigy. 

[gfa]

19 hours ago, mr flow said:

Have they been announced as an exclusive? I assumed the fact they are touring that the IOW booking made them more likely for BT

Its quite nearby is the only thing

Not sure IOW would want them if they were playing a festival an hour away on the more convenient mainland - although i guess this is somewhat negated by the fact BT is later and doesn't announce anymore

[dumski]

On 11/3/2023 at 11:43 AM, gfa said:

Its quite nearby is the only thing

Not sure IOW would want them if they were playing a festival an hour away on the more convenient mainland - although i guess this is somewhat negated by the fact BT is later and doesn't announce anymore

Nearby? really, no.  

BT not announcing until after IOW is perfect.  A few thousand seeing the message last year is no guarantee but i'm sure its happening. the fact its NOT an exclusive speaks volumes. 

I reckon they are due a Glasto slot too - opposite Madge would be a great split.  

[stuie]

On 11/3/2023 at 11:43 AM, gfa said:

Its quite nearby is the only thing

Not sure IOW would want them if they were playing a festival an hour away on the more convenient mainland - although i guess this is somewhat negated by the fact BT is later and doesn't announce anymore

I don't think there's enough of a crossover between IoW and Boomtown punters to worry them.  Also, Boomtown won't even announce artists until IoW is a distant memory. 

 

[On The Blend]

Flow Festival in Helsinki just dropped their first batch of names, so can probably rule any of these out (not that most of them seemed that likely anyway):

Fred again.., Pulp, The Smile, PJ Harvey, Jessie Ware, Denzel Curry, Kenya Grace, Overmono, Body & Soul, Herrensauna, ibe, Arppa & Sunnuntain Seireenit, Antti Autio 4, Verneri Pohjola: Monkey Mind, Joalin, and Tinyhawk & Bizzarro

[dumski]

Fred again is a definite no. 

He said  only doing 1 UK fest next year.  his 1st ever festival as a punter.  that apparently is Reading.  

[Bike_Like_A_Mum]

I'm in, just booked. Buzzing for my first one at last! Family friends of mine run a venue in the old town as well, SO looking forward to checking it out!

[On The Blend]

I’ve put together a prediction/ wishlist based off who seems to be about next year: 

* Justice - Playing Primavera (June) and have announced a 2024 tour

* Idles - Already announced/ predicted for various Fests, latest date is currently end of June 

* Dropkick Murphys - Playing Fests in June, might actually make them less likely as they could ship up back to Boston afterwards 

* Chase & Status - Playing TRNSMT in July 

* Orbital - Playing Bearded Theory in May 

* Underworld - Gigs in April 

* Barry Can’t Swim - Seems to be playing everywhere 

* Bicep - Gigs in June

* Caribou - Currently just one date in Jan 

Little Simz - Nothing announced for 2024 but would be cool 

* Amyl and the Sniffers - Ruled out as they’re playing with the Foos in LA on Aug 9

 

[dumski]

 

If he's not at Reggaeland the week before would be great to have him back. 

[mr flow]

On 11/26/2023 at 1:27 PM, On The Blend said:

I’ve put together a prediction/ wishlist based off who seems to be about next year: 

* Justice - Playing Primavera (June) and have announced a 2024 tour

* Idles - Already announced/ predicted for various Fests, latest date is currently end of June 

* Dropkick Murphys - Playing Fests in June, might actually make them less likely as they could ship up back to Boston afterwards 

* Chase & Status - Playing TRNSMT in July 

* Orbital - Playing Bearded Theory in May 

* Underworld - Gigs in April 

* Barry Can’t Swim - Seems to be playing everywhere 

* Bicep - Gigs in June

* Caribou - Currently just one date in Jan 

Little Simz - Nothing announced for 2024 but would be cool 

* Amyl and the Sniffers - Ruled out as they’re playing with the Foos in LA on Aug 9

 

Chase and Status are doing their own show at Milton Keynes bowl, and playing Boardmasters same weekend, so that rules them out. I'd like to see all of your list playing, but i'd be surprised if we get many unfortunately. I'd say the ones we probably have the most chance of are Orbital, Underworld and Barry Can't Swim, but I've got no info on any of them playing.